


The Dance and the Demons, Part 2: The Queen

by Zdenka



Series: The Dance and the Demons (Purimgifts 2021) [2]
Category: 12 Dancing Princesses (Fairy Tale)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Jewish, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Demons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29655165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zdenka/pseuds/Zdenka
Summary: The queen becomes worried about what is happening to her daughters and looks for a way to help them.
Series: The Dance and the Demons (Purimgifts 2021) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187579
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10
Collections: Purimgifts 2021





	The Dance and the Demons, Part 2: The Queen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lea_hazel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/gifts).



The queen soon noticed that her eldest daughter seemed tired in the mornings, as if she had not slept well. When she asked her daughter about it, the eldest princess started to answer, then stopped and said nothing. Over the following days, each of the other princesses began to look tired as well, with dark rings under their eyes. The queen anxiously asked her daughters if they were ill, if their minds were troubled by anything, if their chambers were uncomfortable in some way—but no matter what she asked, they closed their lips and said not a word.

The queen then spoke to her daughters’ attendants, to see if they had noticed anything strange. “Oh, yes,” said the lady who kept the eldest princess’s wardrobe. “Her Highness’s dancing shoes are worn to rags—she has asked for a new pair each day.” And each of the other attendants said the same.

The queen became deeply concerned and brought the matter to the king. He commanded all the princesses to sleep in the same room at night, and he ordered first servants, then royal guards, then trusted ministers to spend the night in the room watching over them. But no matter who he sent, it made no difference—they all fell sound asleep and could tell the king nothing in the morning. The king tore his beard and sent out word throughout the kingdom that whoever could solve the mystery would be greatly rewarded. Doctors and learned men and mighty warriors all tried, but no one who came could discover anything.

The queen could see her daughters becoming more tired by the day, and she knew that something must be done. At last the queen had an idea: she took ashes from the hearth and scattered them beside the princesses’ beds, hoping it might reveal what was happening or where they went.

In the morning, the queen returned to find scattered footprints in the ashes—the footprints of her daughters, but also strange crooked footprints like those left by the claws of a bird. Then the queen was seized with fear, for she knew that it must be the work of demons.

The queen prayed fervently that her daughters might be saved from the demons, and she tried with all her might to think of a way she could help them. She went to the royal treasury and walked through it, not heeding the heaps of silver and gold and diamonds, until she came to the room where strange and marvelous things were stored: swords that had belonged to great heroes, books of ancient lore in unknown tongues, musical instruments that played by themselves. She hoped she could find some weapon or talisman there to help, but either the things had no relation to demons or she did not know how they might be used.

But seeing these things in the treasury stirred her memory of something from many years ago. When she married the king, her old grandmother was among the guests at the wedding. Her grandmother was very wise, and the queen had always trusted her advice as a young girl. After the ceremonies were complete, the old woman had pressed a small box into her hand. “Take this, my dear,” she had said; “you will need it someday, in a time of great danger.” The queen had thanked her, but thought to herself, What danger could there be when I am married to a great and powerful king? And she had put the box at the bottom of a chest and gradually forgotten about it.

Now she hurried back to her chambers and pulled out the small box from where it had been stored, and opened it anxiously. Inside was a plain-looking ring, inscribed with signs she did not understand. The queen did not hesitate, since her daughters’ lives were at stake, but immediately put the ring on her finger. She felt no change, and nothing seemed different in her surroundings. The queen then saw that she was not the one who was meant to use the ring.

**Author's Note:**

> It says in the Talmud, "One who seeks to know that the demons exist should place fine ashes around his bed, and in the morning the demons’ footprints appear like chickens’ footprints, in the ash." (Berakhot 6a)
> 
> _Image Credit:_
> 
> Edited from the photograph "Beach of Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia" by Dietmar Rabich, via Wikimedia Commons ([Dietmar Rabich](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:XRay) / [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) / [“Apollo Bay (AU), Beach -- 2019 -- 170512”](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_Bay_\(AU\),_Beach_--_2019_--_170512.jpg) / [CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)


End file.
